Judge bars attorney from NJ state trooper sex-assault case

A former state prosecutor best known for securing a conviction against a nurse who murdered her husband and tossed his chopped up body into the water can't represent a state trooper in connection with an alleged sexual assault of a college student, a judge ruled today.

Judge Travis Francis granted the motion filed by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office to bar attorney Patricia Prezioso from the case because of rules that require former government lawyers to wait six months before representing clients being prosecuted by the state.

Prezioso had argued the six-month cooling off period did not apply beause she worked for the state Attorney General's Office, not the Middlesex prosecutor, before she quit in September.

The judge, however, said the attorney general supervises county prosecutors and allowing Prezioso to continue on the case would violate the rules of professional conduct that requires the cooling-off period.

Prezioso said she may appeal the decision so she could continue to represent one of the seven troopers have been suspended with pay as authorities investigate a Rider University student's report of being raped by one or more troopers on Dec. 7. No charges have been filed and the troopers insist that any sex that occurred was consensual.

"I'm disappointed with the court's findings," she said. "We need to consider that we want this side show to end. We want the focus to be on assisting this trooper and getting his life back."